The Education Writers Association's fellowships provide financial awards to journalists to undertake ambitious reporting and writing projects. The application deadline for the current round was Sept. 10, 2019.
The Education Writers Association’s fellowships provide financial
awards to journalists to undertake ambitious reporting and
writing projects. The application deadline for the current round
was Sept. 10, 2019.
EWA Announces New Class of Reporting Fellows
The Education Writers Association is pleased to announce its eighth class of EWA Reporting Fellows as part of the organization’s ongoing efforts to support ambitious journalism projects that inform the public on important issues in education.
“Enterprising coverage of education by independent journalists has never been more important, and EWA is proud to play a role in supporting their work,” said Caroline Hendrie, EWA’s executive director. “We are delighted to help make possible in-depth reporting by our members.”
Promises Kept: How a Scholarship Program Is Serving as a Model for Community Change
Cory McCoy
A city of just 5,500 residents in East Texas might not be the first place people would think of when looking to pilot a program that could change the college landscape, but it’s happening in Rusk.
When the Rusk promise launched in 2014, it was the first community promise initiative in the state. In just five years, the results already are creating change in the community.
EWA Invites Journalists to Apply for Fellowships on K-12, Postsecondary Topics
*The deadline for this round of the EWA Reporting Fellowship program was Sept. 10, 2019. The application cycle is now closed.
The Education Writers Association is pleased to announce a call for proposals for its next class of EWA Reporting Fellows. The fellowships provide financial awards to journalists to undertake ambitious reporting and writing projects. This will be the eighth class of EWA Reporting Fellows.
Students Have an Uphill Battle to Degrees, But Montana Educators Push for Success
At Helena College, a 26-year-old student raising her daughter alone schedules class around her job at a grocery store. Stephanie Heitman’s paychecks were going toward unpaid medical bills until her small college helped with a grant.
When Tristin Bullshoe landed at the University of Montana after growing up in Browning, he struggled to pursue his dream of being a doctor. He landed in a college lecture hall with 300 people after graduating high school with a class of 12, and the Blackfeet student faced culture shock.
FAQs About the Fall 2019 EWA Reporting Fellowships
What is the EWA Reporting Fellowship?
The EWA Reporting Fellowship provides financial awards to education journalists to undertake special reporting and writing projects.
How many fellowships will be awarded?
EWA expects to award approximately six to eight fellowships in this round.
How much money comes with the fellowship?
EWA will provide awards of up to $8,000 apiece to winning proposals.
Can a State Help More Residents Finish College?
With 75 percent of the state’s jobs requiring postsecondary credentials, Colorado looks to boost college and career training
(EWA Radio: Episode 213)
Like many states, Colorado has set an ambitious goal for boosting the number of citizens with advanced degrees and credentials, all with an eye toward filling high-need jobs in areas like health care and manufacturing. In a five-part series, EWA Reporting Fellow Stephanie Daniel of KUNC (Northern Colorado Community Radio) looks at how the Rocky Mountain state is trying to do that:
Special Series: Offender Learning
The Oklahoman
At a time when Oklahoma — and the nation — continues to deal with overcrowded prisons and high rates of reoffending, higher education programs behind bars offer one of the most successful models at rehabilitation.
Through a fellowship with the Education Writers Association, The Oklahoman traveled to England to learn more about the nation’s prison education program at a time when Oklahoma’s high incarceration rate has most facilities over capacity and officials with the state Department of Corrections claiming new prisons are needed to handle the continued growth.
When Prisoners Go to College
In Illinois, education programs for the incarcerated show strong results despite being underfunded
(EWA Radio: Episode 200)
If you’re an inmate in Illinois, what educational programs are available to help you get your life back on track? That’s the question public radio reporter Lee Gaines set out to answer in an ongoing series. As part of an EWA Reporting Fellowship, Gaines looks at how severe budget cuts in Illinois, plus changes to eligibility for federal Pell Grant dollars, have reduced the number of prisoners earning postsecondary credentials and degrees.
Can Kansas Keep Its Best Students?
Sunflower State students face realities of 'College Economy'
(EWA Radio: Episode 203)
Kansas, like many states, is pouring millions of dollars into dual-credit programs, technical colleges and other initiatives aimed at preparing more students for the so-called “college economy,” where advanced training is a prerequisite for well-paying jobs. But are those investments paying off? In an eight-part series for the Kansas News Service, reporters Celia Llopis-Jepsen and Stephen Bisaha look at the state’s push to get more students into postsecondary programs, and to keep them from taking their highly desirable skill sets to employers in other states.
More High-School Students Are Using This Hack to Get a Head-Start on College — but the Poorest Students Are Being Left Behind
“That was wild.”
That’s how Victor Orduna describes his life as a teenager in southwest Chicago’s Gage Park neighborhood. And he isn’t talking about partying with friends or other high-school high-jinks.
Orduna is referring to his schedule. The now 19-year old would wake up around 6:30 a.m., head to his high school until the late afternoon, and then clock in for his job at a local supermarket, where he’d bag groceries until 10:30 p.m. Some weekends, Orduna worked the late shift at a pizzeria, slinging pizzas and cooking burgers until 1:30 a.m.
Inside the Nationwide Effort to Tackle the $1.5 Trillion Student-Debt Crisis — With the Help of High-School Students
There’s not much Barack Obama and Betsy DeVos see eye-to-eye on.
But the 44th president of the United States and the Trump administration’s controversial education secretary have found some common ground.
Obama and DeVos — as well as many local, state and federal politicians — have heralded the idea of students taking college courses and earning college credits while still in high school.
Pathways to Prosperity: Cleveland Can Learn From European Approach to Education, Training
Sharon Braat is glad she’s going to college in the Netherlands and not the U.S.
It’s not just the nearly-free tuition her country offers. It’s the practical and hands-on classes aimed at her career. In her case, it also includes real work for actual businesses while in school.
“Our system is better for preparing you for where you want to go,” she said. “You feel like you’re in a company… If you screw up, you can screw up big time. It’s the real world.”
EWA Announces New Class of Reporting Fellows
The Education Writers Association is pleased to announce its seventh class of EWA Reporting Fellows as part of the organization’s ongoing efforts to support enterprising journalism projects.
“We were thrilled to receive many strong proposals for in-depth reporting projects, including from outlets focused on local news,” said Caroline Hendrie, EWA’s executive director. “We are proud of the outstanding coverage that EWA’s fellowship program has supported to date, and we’re confident that this new round will prove equally excellent.”
Citizen Z: An Education Week Project
Teaching Civics in a Divided Nation
U.S. public education is rooted in the belief by early American leaders that the most important knowledge to impart to young people is what it means to be a citizen. If America is experiencing a civic crisis now, as many say it is, schools may well be failing at that job.
How Democracy Prep Is Drawing Upon Civics to Challenge Its Students to ‘Change the World’ — Before They Graduate
Jeneba Sy has a way of standing out from the crowd, even one as hectic as this. The senior at Democracy Prep Harlem High School stood smiling behind a desk in the crowded fourth-floor classroom, ready to explain the details of her yearlong capstone project.
A few students thronged around her as others squeezed past. Like her classmates, she introduced herself and gestured toward her visual aid, a foldable display board covered in quotes and statistics about the research she’d conducted this year.
Kansas Needs Nurses. So Why Do Engineering Schools Get More Money?
Dual credit programs, technical colleges getting big boost in Sunflower State
(EWA Radio: Episode 203)
Kansas, like many states, is pouring millions of dollars into dual-credit programs, technical colleges and other initiatives aimed at preparing more students for the so-called “college economy,” where advanced training is a prerequisite for well-paying jobs. But are those investments paying off? In an eight-part series for the Kansas News Service, reporters Celia Llopis-Jepsen and Stephen Bisaha look at the state’s push to get more students into postsecondary programs, and to keep them from taking their highly desirable skill sets to employers in other states.
Could Free College Classes In High School Put More Kansas Students On Track To Degrees?
Hefty college debt won’t saddle Bryan Medina. He’s on a fast track to an energy career that he hopes will pave the road to family dreams: Buying his own cattle and going in on the purchase of 300 acres of land with his dad. “We could grow and eventually own our own feedyard,” said Medina, who finished high school last May in the small southwest Kansas town of Sublette. “If things go great, if we put all the work into it, we’ll definitely get there.”
Behind Bars and in College
Postsecondary education in Illinois’ prison system
(EWA Radio: Episode 200)
If you’re an inmate in Illinois, what educational programs are available to help you get your life back on track? That’s the question public radio reporter Lee Gaines set out to answer in an ongoing series. As part of an EWA Reporting Fellowship, Gaines looks at how severe budget cuts in Illinois, plus changes to eligibility for federal Pell Grant dollars, have reduced the number of prisoners earning postsecondary credentials and degrees.
Plotting The Right Path To A Job Matters More Than Ever In Today’s ‘College Economy
College remains the single most reliable path to a lifetime of higher earnings. But burgeoning student debt and a job landscape transformed by computers and automation ratchet up the pressure on students to choose their majors wisely.
College Costs More Than Ever, But Can You Afford To Skip It? Consider These 5 Things
Life is expensive. Rent, health care, raising a family, saving for retirement — it adds up. But so does college debt. In fact, the cost of college shot up many times faster than typical U.S. earnings in recent decades. So, what to do after high school? Here’s what you need to know.
Only Two Percent Of Teachers Are Black Men, Yet Research Confirms They Matter
A growing body of recent research asserts that a black man in the classroom is both rare and critically needed in American public schools.
Since 2014, ethnic and racial minorities make up more than half of the student population in U.S. public schools, yet about 80 percent of teachers are white and 77 percent of them are female. People of color make up about 20 percent of teachers; a mere 2 percent are black men.
North Carolina’s Teacher Diversity Gap
In North Carolina, where minority students make up 52 percent of the traditional public school body, 80 percent of teachers are white. For students of color, especially black and Hispanic boys, that means they may seldom – or never – have a teacher who looks like them during their kindergarten through 12th grade years.
Is the Time Right to Make Education a Constitutional Right?
A much-anticipated lawsuit argues that, despite nowhere mentioning the word education, the U.S. Constitution does guarantee the provision of an education for the intuitive reason that it is impossible to vote, exercise free speech, or serve on a jury without one.
Students Learn to Put the ‘Civil’ in Civil Discourse
Inside this high school at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, teenagers are immersed in a project with the potential to temper the divisiveness that is consuming U.S. politics. They’re learning to have calm, balanced conversations about controversial issues.
Lessons on U.S. Constitution Find New Relevance
In an age when the nation is deeply divided politically, those who teach about the U.S. Constitution are on the front lines of guiding their students to a deeper understanding of civics.
“With my seniors, current events are an issue every single day,” said Elizabeth Schley, an AP Government and Politics teacher at Basha High School in Chandler, Ariz. “At the beginning of the semester, they thought they were just going to sit here and argue for the entire hour. But that’s not what we do.”
Teaching the Real Lessons of Thanksgiving – Featured Videos – Education Week Video
Thanksgiving is often seen as a quintessential feel-good holiday – but many argue the way its taught in schools perpetuates a myth and dishonors Native Americans.
‘It’s Like a High School Girl Fight’: Talking Politics With Students After Election Day
Are all politics local? The adage fits here in Michael Siraguse’s two AP Government classes, where students are peppering their teacher with post-midterm questions about the city council race—not the so-called “blue wave.”
Midterm Elections in the Classroom: Local Issues and Longstanding Themes
How do you make the midterm elections come alive, especially for students who already feel disenfranchised? That was the challenge faced by Chelsea Ann Hittel, a social studies teacher at the Heather Ridge School, an alternative middle and high school in Frederick County, Md. Most of her students attend the school because they didn’t succeed in a regular high school curriculum; many are on individualized education programs. “The curriculum for government is very dry and unengaging, honestly. Kids come into government already hating it. They think it’s going to be boring,” Hittel said.
Teaching the Midterm Elections: Voter Turnout and Its Implications – Curriculum Matters
Today, we’re highlighting Kathleen Argus, a teacher at the Institute of Technology, a public high school in Syracuse, N.Y., who teachers a 12th grade active citizenship course.
Teaching about elections poses some particular challenges in New York, a state that nearly always winds up blue in presidential elections thanks to the dominance of New York City. So, from a certain angle, the midterms are even more important for the state’s electorate: That’s where upstate districts and counties can really make their voting power felt.
The Midterm Elections in the Classroom: Why They Matter, and How Teachers Are Preparing
The midterm elections can be easy to overlook from a curriculum perspective. They’re not as frenzied as presidential elections. Voter turnout tends to go down.
Where Prospective, First-Time Voters Get Informed
Nick Brown turned 18 in September and will vote for the first time in November. But the Brandon, S.D., resident admits he has some research to do.
“As of right now I know nothing,” said Brown, whose high school law and government teacher registered voting-age students in class. “I don’t follow politics at all, so I need to educate myself before I go in and vote.”
Is America’s Next Generation of Voters Ready for the Job?
A little more than a third of 18- and 19-year-olds who participated in an online survey by the Education Week Research Center in September said they had never taken a stand-alone civics class. Yet students who took those courses were more likely to say they plan to vote. Just a quarter of people who have never taken a stand-alone civics class plan to vote. Nearly twice as many do not, said Holly Kurtz, the research center’s director. T
FAQs About the 2019 EWA Reporting Fellowships
Please note: The deadline for this round of the fellowship was Feb. 15, 2019.
What is the EWA Reporting Fellowship?
The EWA Reporting Fellowship provides financial awards to education journalists to undertake special reporting and writing projects.
How many fellowships will be awarded?
EWA expects to award approximately 7 fellowships in this round.
How much money comes with the fellowship?
EWA will provide awards of up to $8,000 apiece to winning proposals.
Want an EWA Reporting Fellowship? Here’s What You Need to Know.
Fellows eligible for up to $8,000 plus other project support
EWA is looking for its next class of Reporting Fellows – education journalists who receive up to $8,000 apiece to undertake in-depth projects on a wide range of topics.
This is your opportunity to get the inside track on crafting a winning application. Questions addressed include: What are the hallmarks of successful proposals? How can the money be used? What reporting topics are priorities this time? How have past fellows used their funds to produce innovative and compelling work?
Why Illinois Won’t ‘Ban The Box’ On College Applications
Next year, the Common Application used by hundreds of colleges and universities will stop asking potential students about their criminal histories. Despite legislative efforts in Illinois, most campuses in the state continue to ask the question. Nationwide, roughly two-thirds of colleges and universities that completed a 2009 survey reported asking prospective students about their criminal histories.
District Sends Teachers on Home Visits to Help Get More Students to College
West Virginia unveiled a campaign this year for 60 percent of adults ages 25 to 64 to have earned a degree or certificate by 2030. But in this county of fewer than 19,000 residents, just 38 percent of recent high school graduates sought more education, according to the latest available data from the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission. That’s well below the statewide rate of 55 percent. And in 2016 just 8 percent of McDowell County residents of working age held an associate degree or higher, compared to 31 percent statewide.
Hitting the ‘60 Percent Goal’ Won’t Just Take Work. It Requires a Transformation.
In order to meet its top educational goal, Idaho will need to reinvent itself. And rethink success.
State leaders want more high school graduates to continue their education — to prepare young adults for a changing labor market, and to help Idaho compete economically. This ambitious aim runs headway into hard realities.
How to Fund Your Dream Reporting Project
Seven organizations will provide financial and editorial support to education journalists.
Here’s some rare good financial news for education journalists: If you have an idea for an ambitious education-related story - and a realistic plan for executing it – a growing number of organizations will provide grants or other resources to support your reporting.
Representatives from several of the organizations, and some fellowship winners, shared tips and strategies for getting help to make reporting dreams a reality at EWA’s 2018 National Seminar, held on the campus of the University of Southern California.
EWA Announces New Reporting Fellows
The Education Writers Association is pleased to announce its sixth class of EWA Reporting Fellows as part of the organization’s ongoing efforts to support enterprising journalism projects on education.
“From investigative reporting to deep data dives to long-form narratives, our new fellows reflect a diverse range of topics and approaches,” said Caroline Hendrie, EWA’s executive director. “We are delighted to be able to support such ambitious and timely education journalism.”
EWA Invites Journalists to Apply for Fellowships on K-12, Higher Ed Topics
Awards of up to $8,000 will support ambitious reporting and writing
*The deadline for this round of the EWA Reporting Fellowship was Aug. 31, 2018. The application cycle is now closed.
The Education Writers Association is pleased to announce a call for proposals for its next class of EWA Reporting Fellows. The fellowships provide financial awards to journalists to undertake ambitious reporting and writing projects. This will be the sixth class of EWA Reporting Fellows.
FAQs About the 2018 EWA Reporting Fellowships:
K-12 and Higher Ed
Applications Due August 31, 2018
What is the EWA Reporting Fellowship?
The EWA Reporting Fellowship provides financial awards to education journalists to undertake special reporting and writing projects.
How many fellowships will be awarded?
EWA expects to award approximately 10 fellowships in this round of the program.
How much money comes with the fellowship?
EWA will provide awards of up to $8,000 a piece to winning proposals.
EWA Announces New Education Reporting Fellows
The Education Writers Association is pleased to announce its fifth class of EWA Reporting Fellows as part of the organization’s ongoing efforts to support enterprising journalism projects on education.
“We’re delighted to support the in-depth reporting projects proposed by the newest fellows,” said Caroline Hendrie, EWA’s executive director. “Their work will help shed light on the myriad challenges and opportunities facing students as they move from classrooms to careers.”
Trauma Lingers for Harvey Survivors Returning to School in Port Arthur
The mid-June clouds stark white and heavy with impending rain, Darby Dugay listened for the splatter of falling drops, noting that the foul weather might delay her basketball practice.
Nearly a year after Hurricane Harvey submerged coastal Port Arthur, the rain still brings the 17-year-old’s heart rate up, especially when water overflows the long-neglected drainage ditches lining the neighborhood’s sidewalks.
FAQs About the 2018 EWA Reporting Fellowship: Postsecondary Pathways
Applications Due April 30, 2018
What is the EWA Reporting Fellowship?
The EWA Reporting Fellowship provides financial awards to education journalists to undertake special reporting and writing projects.
How many fellowships will be awarded?
EWA expects to award approximately six to 10 fellowships in this round of the program.
How much money comes with the fellowship?
EWA will provide awards of up to $8,000 a piece to winning proposals.
EWA Announces New Education Reporting Fellows
The Education Writers Association is pleased to announce its fourth class of EWA Reporting Fellows as part of the organization’s ongoing efforts to support enterprising journalism projects on education.
“We are delighted to provide additional EWA members with this unique opportunity to dig deeper into the education beat,” said Caroline Hendrie, EWA’s executive director. “These new projects will make important contributions to the public’s understanding of education and further fortify the nation’s education journalism community.”
Test Drive: New Hampshire Teachers Build New Ways to Measure Deeper Learning
Just outside Concord High School, a delivery truck has spilled its chemical supplies. The students’ mission: Investigate the properties of the spill and develop a detailed plan to clean it up safely.
Teenagers wearing safety goggles squat down, sucking up samples of the clear liquid with pipettes. The simulated spill has been “contained” in a fish tank. But the students play along, first by developing some “testable questions” with their partners: How acidic is it? How does it compare with the properties of each substance on the truck?
Reinventing High School
See how one New Hampshire school is retooling education.
Two-dozen high school students are gathered around a large work table as manufacturing teacher Dan Cassidy holds out boxes of metal bars and gears. The students choose among the parts to build model bicycles. “What else are we going to use today? Let me hear some vocab here,” he says. When a student shouts out “chains,” he nudges them until they recall another term for it: “linkage.”
‘Eddie Prize’ Winner Kelly Field: Reporting on Native American Students
EWA Radio: Episode 134
Journalist Kelly Field recently won a top honor at EWA’s National Seminar for her compelling series, “From the Reservation to College,” on the education of Native American students. Field’s coverage for The Chronicle of Higher Education — supported by an EWA Reporting Fellowship — follows several students from the Blackfeet Indian reservation in Montana. Their experiences highlight the significant educational challenges facing Native communities in the U.S. today.
A Houston High School’s Transformation
EWA Radio: Episode 129
Laura Isensee of Houston Public Media discusses Furr High School, which recently received a $10 million grant to help it reinvent what, when, and how students learn. The changes are already underway: a veteran principal was lured out of retirement to take the helm; students are able dig into their own areas of interest during regular periods of “Genius Time”; and even the hiring process for teachers and staff has taken some innovative turns. What’s been the response of the school community to these new developments?
Covering Segregation Through Storytelling
Nationally, politicians and others frequently tout Hartford, Connecticut, and its magnet schools as a model of school integration. But in reality, the city has a system of haves and have nots, as Vanessa de la Torre and Matthew Kauffman, reporters at The Hartford Courant, revealed in their 2017 series, “Hartford Schools: More Separate, Still Unequal.”
EWA Announces New ‘Global Lens’ Education Reporting Fellows
The Education Writers Association is pleased to announce its third class of EWA Reporting Fellows, under an initiative aimed at supporting enterprising journalism projects.
The latest round of the EWA Reporting Fellowship is focused on examining U.S. education through a global lens. Prior rounds include college and career readiness and success, as well as high school redesign.
FAQs About the 2017 EWA Reporting Fellowship: U.S. Education in Global Context
Applications Due March 27, 2017
What is the EWA Reporting Fellowship?
The EWA Reporting Fellowship provides financial awards to education journalists to undertake special reporting and writing projects.
How many fellowships will be awarded?
EWA expects to award approximately three fellowships in this round of the program.
How much money comes with the fellowship?
EWA will provide awards of up to $8,000 a piece to winning proposals.
EWA Supports Education Journalism With New Fellows
The Education Writers Association is pleased to announce its inaugural class of EWA Reporting Fellows, under a new initiative aimed at supporting enterprising journalism projects.
“We were impressed by the high caliber of the proposals, and are thrilled to help advance ambitious reporting in communities across the country, from Baltimore and Detroit to New Orleans,” said Caroline Hendrie, EWA’s executive director. “The response to this new initiative makes clear the strong appetite among media outlets — and individual journalists — for in-depth reporting on education.”
EWA Announces New Education Reporting Fellows
The Education Writers Association is pleased to announce its second class of EWA Reporting Fellows, under an initiative aimed at supporting enterprising journalism projects.
“We were heartened by the quality of the applications and the continued enthusiasm among EWA members for pursuing in-depth reporting projects,” said Caroline Hendrie, EWA’s executive director. “We expect the fellows’ work to advance important conversations about policies and practices shaping America’s schools.”
Chartering a New Course: KIPP’s Katrina Generation Goes to College
EWA Radio: Episode 93
When Hurricane Katrina swept through New Orleans in 2005, much of the city’s infrastructure was washed away — including its public education system. Changes imposed after the storm have produced a system primarily of charter schools which are independently operated and publicly funded — including those run by the KIPP network.
In the new series “Higher Ground” (for NOLA.com/The Times Picayune), reporter Danielle Dreilinger looks at where the city’s KIPP’s graduates wind up after graduation. She talks with EWA public editor Emily Richmond about the project (part of the EWA Reporting Fellowship program), and how the high-achieving charter network is seeking to improve New Orleans’ students chances of postsecondary success.
Broken Promises: The Education of Native Students
EWA Radio: Episode 86
What will it take for the federal government to provide American Indian and Alaskan Native students with the schooling and services they’ve long been promised?